


dreaming of a greener grass

by aryelee



Category: Chronicles of Narnia - All Media Types, Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Genre: Dream Magic, Found Family, Gen, Magic, Post Silver Chair, Reunions, i guess bc jill and eustace have a v sibling relationship in this, jill's got dream powers now and it's great
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-31
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:21:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22486249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aryelee/pseuds/aryelee
Summary: Jill's been having strange dreams lately. They're not nightmares or particularly bizarre, but whenever she holds something in a dream, she wakes up with it in her hands.Narnia leaves its mark on everyone in different ways. Jill's mark is just a little harder to see.
Relationships: Jill Pole & Eustace Scrubb, Jill Pole & Eustace Scruub & Tirian
Kudos: 17





	dreaming of a greener grass

Jill wakes up with an apple in her hand. 

This is not the first time this has happened: she’ll dream and in those dreams pick up a variety of objects that somehow end up in her hands when she wakes up. The dreams themselves are vivid and feel real, as though she never fell asleep at all. The strangeness of it all forces her to keep quiet, but whenever her mind isn’t occupied by her studies, she wonders about it. 

At least this time it’s something mundane and easily forgotten. Food can easily be eaten or left on a table for someone else. It’s much harder to hide daggers and bear claws and gem-studded cups. She had a hard time hiding those ones, especially when Eustace asked if she had picked up anything recently with a strangely sharp look in his eyes.

Sighing, she forces herself out of bed and sets the apple down on her bedside table. Lately, she’s become the first one to wake up in her dorm room, rather than the last. Sleep evades her the moment the sun rises, and Jill has given up on falling back asleep after the first week when she lay in bed, bored, for two hours. 

The new boarding school she goes to has separate buildings for girls and boys, and sticks four students per room. It’s a cramped space, and Jill is beginning to worry about where to hide things; sooner or later she’s going to run out of room under her mattress.

It’s the last day of class, and Jill skips it because she’s not going to be doing anything in a stuffy old classroom, so she might as well do nothing outside. She’s a decent enough student that skipping a few classes means nothing to her, and no one cares enough to hunt her down. And whenever she chooses to spend her day hidden outside, laying on the grass, Eustace always stumbles upon her and keeps her company.

He really has changed, she thinks, but then again, so has she. Narnia leaves quite the mark on people, even if it’s not so visible.

“Fancy seeing you here, Pole,” Eustace says, dropping down into the grass beside her. “Never would have thought I’d see you skipping class.”

“Ugh, spare me,” she groans, swatting his arm, “I’ve heard that joke too often. What’s brought you to my neck of the woods then?”

He shrugs. “Just felt like it.”

Jill hums, and lets the silence settle between them.

“It’s… been quite some time since we came back, hasn’t it?” she muses, thinking out loud. Since the dreams started, her thoughts turn to Narnia more and more, and there’s only one person she knows who would understand what she speaks of.

She expects Eustace to ask her why she’s bringing this up now, or not really answer at all. They haven’t spoken of Narnia since the first week back, when they arrived at this new school after the abrupt closing of Experiment House. He does neither of these things; instead, he says, a little quiet, a little melancholy, “It has been a while. Somehow, leaving a second time is worse.”

Jill turns her head to look at him. He has his head tilted back, looking up at the sky in all it’s bright and blue glory. “In what way?”

“It was much more abrupt this time. And Capsian…” He trails off. “Last time, we stood at the edge of the world, and had a chance to say goodbye. It was hard for my cousins, since it was the last time they’d ever be in Narnia. And they told me about how time flows differently there, how they lost a thousand years. But I guess I never expected to see him die of old age. Never really expected so much time to pass.”

He’s much more open with his emotions now. It’s nice, Jill thinks, remembering back to Experiment House, just a year before, where he sneered at people who cried and vehemently avoided any talk of feelings. She couldn’t stand that Eustace. But this one, the Eustace besides her, is her dearest friend. 

She’s lucky to have him with her. 

Jill hopes that Tirian has someone like Eustace with him; a friend, someone to rely on. Someone to trust. 

“Do you think we’ll ever go back?” Jill asks, reaching out to hold his hand, offer a small comfort.

He’s silent for a while. Just breathing, existing besides her. 

“No,” he says, “Not me, at least. Maybe you, but I think that was the last of Narnia I’ll ever see.”

“I don’t want to be in Narnia without you. It’s you, Puddleglum, and Tirian that I was there for, after all.”

Eustace smiles, and finally turns to face her. “How weirdly sweet of you. Did you eat something funny this morning?”

Scowling, she slaps his arm again as he laughs, then pauses. “Actually…”

“Wait, if you actually feel bad, go take some medicine.”

“No, no, not that,” Jill reassures, “It’s just that. Lately, there’s been something…  _ strange  _ going on.”

“Strange?” Eustace repeats.

“Strange,” Jill says, “Very strange.”

He eyes her for a moment, looking serious as she lays sprawled on the grass, then slowly leans back until he lies on the ground as well.

“Well, give it to me straight. Are we going to die?”

“My dreams are real,” she bursts out, and Eustace blinks, trying to process her words.

Pursing his lips, he says, “I’m not quite sure how to explain to you that that’s not how dreams work.”

“I  _ mean _ , I dream things and I wake up with them. I dreamed up an apple and I was holding it when I woke up.”

“Are you sure you just haven’t been sleep walking and hungry at night?”

"I dreamed up a sword and a jewel covered cup.”

Eustace shots up as though he’s been shocked, and stares at her with wide eyes. “Does the cup have emeralds in it,” he says, growing louder with each word, “Is it made of gold?”

Jill stares back, unsure of where this is going. “...Yes,” she slowly answers, “How could you possibly know that?”

“I was a dragon.”

“I need a little more explanation, Scrubb.”

He waves his hand in the air. “You know.” Jill does not know. She stares.

“Last summer, when I ended up in Narnia with my cousins, I became a dragon because I tried to steal gold from a dragon’s hoard. Aslan fixed me up, but I still carry some dragon traits.”

“Like what?”

“Well, I’m really good at finding things. And I know when someone has something valuable. That’s how I knew you had something with gold and emeralds a while back; it’s like a sense, or a certain smell. I can’t explain it, but it’s how I was when I was a dragon.”

“Huh,” Jill says. “Well. That’s. Hmm.”

Eustace shrugs. “Narnia leaves its mark on people. I just the dreams are your mark.”

“Hmm,” she says, and files this new information away for later. 

That’s all they say of it that day, before Eustace turns the topic onto his newfound love of baking, and they say their goodbyes, promising to meet up during the summer despite the distance between their homes.

* * *

It takes a few nights of testing. Jill dreams and tests the limits of her awareness; she’s practically awake, but there’s a haze covering everything, making it feel unreal. She supposes it  _ is _ unreal, being a dream and all. Even so, she explores her dreamscapes, mostly neighborhoods and unfamiliar house and sometimes a forest filled with silence. 

She brings back an acorn and a blue mug to the waking world, then starts to test the limits of her dreams.

Just like lucid dreaming, Jill can control her dreams, to a certain extent. It takes a great amount of focus to change the landscape, so great that she wakes up immediately after managing it. Every night it becomes easier, and that’s all Jill needs to keep going.

She can also dream up certain things. She calls up flowers and candles and even a few birds. Jill begins to wake up more exhausted, but the thrill of controlling her dreams makes her push past it. She’s been successful in every one of her experiments so far, but the next is what she’s been looking forward to.

Jill spends the day distracted, writing a letter to Eustace about spending a day together, and does her best to picture him as accurately as possible as she writes, She barely tastes any food she eats and can’t remember a single word her father has said; instead Jill is focused on the ticking of the clock, waiting for the hours to pass and the sun to go down.

The nerves alone almost keep her from falling asleep. But the pull of it is too strong to be put off for long, and a few minutes after she’s laid down, staring at the sliver of moonlight that managed to slip past her curtains, Jill is falling into darkness and opening her eyes in a dream.

“Okay,” she says to herself, psyching herself up, “Worst thing that can happen is that it doesn’t work.” 

Letting out a deep breath, Jill stands and surveys the landscape around her. The grounds of Experiment House greet her. She stands at the bushes where Eustace first told her of Narnia; perhaps her subconscious still has some say on what she dreams. 

She focuses, staring into the empty space in front of her, trying to pull Eustace in. The familiar drop of her stomach hits, and suddenly, he’s there, confused but undoubtedly Eustace.

Jill laughs, giddy with excitement, and throws herself forwards to hug him.

“What-- Jill?” he says, patting her back. He’s shocked enough to use her first name, which makes Jill laugh even more. Perhaps it’s time for first names, anyways. They’ve already helped Narnia together. Surely being kidnapped into her dream is a good enough time to stop using their surnames.

“Eustace! You’re in my dream!”

“Oh, well, excuse me. Didn’t mean to intrude.”

She rolls her eyes and pulls away from him to let him look around. “No, you dolt,” she says, “Don’t be so polite. I pulled you into my dream.”

“Oh!” he says, “This is the dream thing you told me about a while ago!”

“The very same.”

“And you choose to dream about Experiment House?” Eustace sounds far too judgemental for someone who can’t control his dreams. Unacceptable.

She tosses her head and says, “No! Well, not really. I don’t choose what my dreams look like when I first end up in them. But I can change the landscape! Takes a lot out of me, but I can do it.”

Eustace hums in response, not bothering to say anything. He sounds disbelieving, which. Rude. Jill wants to change the landscape just to spite him, but she knows it’ll end her time in the dream rather quickly. Maybe some other time she’ll be able to show off and prove him wrong.

For now, Jill focuses on another issue.

“You’re properly Eustace, right?” she asks. “Not just a version of him my mind’s created, but you’re really you, right?”

He frowns, and says, “Well, I hope so. I’m not sure how to tell if I’m not me.”

“Well, we’ll know when we wake up and you remember this. Oh!” Jill stops, holds out her hand, and imagines an apple dropping into it. Once it’s in her hand, she tosses it to Eustace, who fumbles with the catch. “Assuming you are really Eustace, let me know when see each other in two days if you wake up with that apple in hand.”

“Hey!” Eustace suddenly exclaims, “If this does work, then you can dream me up ingredients and I won’t have to go shopping for them!”

Jill stares at Eustace, who grins as though he’s thought of something very clever, then sighs.

“I can’t believe you,” she groans. “I can dream things up and pull them into reality, and you want to turn me into a grocery store?!”

“Well, you’re not really a grocery store since I won’t be paying you.”

“And why won’t you be paying me!”

“Can’t you just dream up some money?”

Jill pauses, then tilts her head, considering. “You know what? I  _ could  _ do that.” She shakes her head, turning back to the matter at hand. “Anyways, you have to let me know if it works! I still haven’t figured out everything with this whole dreaming business.”

“I will, I will! Now, can you dream us somewhere else? I was really hoping I’d never see this place again.”

* * *

“Pole!” Eustace waves at her from across the street, then quickly makes his way over, grinning. “Come on, my house is close by and my parents are out so we can talk about Narnia without anyone overhearing.”

“Alright, lead the way,” she says, gesturing for him to go forth. “Say, have you had any strange dreams lately?”

He turns back to grin at her as he pushes past people on the sidewalk. “I have actually. Dreamed we were back at Experiment House and you gave me an apple.”

“So it worked!”

“Well, the apple was gone when I woke up, but besides that, I’d say it did.”

“Good. There’s one more thing I want to try, then.”

Eustace turns the corner and Jill hurries to catch up, squeezing past people and bumping into quite a few more in her hurry. He laughs when she calls out to him to slow down, but waits for her at the end of the street. He doesn’t bother dodging when Jill punches his shoulder, so she calls it even and he slows down enough for her to keep up.

“You’re always such a menace,” she grumbles ash she waits for him to unlock the door of his house and let her in. 

“ _You’re_ the one who came across town today, not me. You could have just stayed home.”

“Shut up. It’s so I can know the results of the dream.”

“And definitely not because we’re friends,” Eustace teases, opening the door..

Jill elbows him as she steps inside, looking away to hide a smile. “Of course not, why would I ever have friends when I’m busy taking over the world?”

“Then I guess you didn’t come for the cake either.”

“Oh, no, the cake is the only reason I’m here, actually.”

“Well!” Eustace says, clapping his hands together as he kicks the door shut. “Come on, let me get you a slice and you can tell me how it is.”

He leads her to the kitchen and shoves a pile of letters and other papers to the side before pulling out plates and forks. The cake he takes out of the fridge actually looks nice, shaped by the placement of thin apple slices and lightly covered in caramel. 

Jill whistles. “Wow, that actually looks edible!”

“We’ll see if it is once you eat it.”

“Can’t believe I’m willing to die for this cake,” Jill grumbles as Eustace carefully cuts out a slice and lays it on a plate. He hands it to her and watches nervously as she takes a bite. Just to mess with him, Jill is careful to from being to expression, making him fidget more each second. Then she smiles and nods her head.

“Alright,” she says, “That’s a damn good cake.”

The grin Eustace gives her is bright and his shoulders slump as though a great weight were taken off of them. “I’m glad. I was worried it’d turn out bad.”

“Keep baking like this and I’m sure you’ll be opening up your own shop soon enough.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah, so long as you give me a few discounts when I come by.”

“That aside!” Eustace says, fighting off a blush, “The dreams!”

Setting her empty plate down, Jill nods, leaning back against the counter. “The dreams,” she repeats. “Were you really there? How much do you remember?”

“All of it. So it really works? You can really control your dreams?”

“And bring other people into them, it seems. But I guess only I can bring things I dream up back into the real world.”

“What are you going to do next?”

Jill tugs on the hem of her shirt, and looks away, suddenly feeling anxious. “Well, I was going to try to bring Tirian into my dream.”

“But he’s in Narnia,” Eustace says, shocked, “We don’t even know how much time has passed since we left.”

“I want to try, at least. I keep wishing we were able to spend more time with him.”

Eustace sighs, then nods. “Alright. But bring me into your dream if you’re going to try. I don’t want you to end up stuck in your dreams because some Narnian magic trapped you.”

The relief she feels is overwhelming. While part of her anxiety came from worrying whether it was possible to bring Tirian into her dreams, another part was worrying about what she should do if she got stuck in Narnia through her dreams and couldn’t wake up. There was no one else she could ask her help, not in this world, but at least she wouldn’t have to go about it alone.

How lucky she is to have Eustace as a friend. 

Maybe she should dream up ingredients to bring him next time.

* * *

“So how’s this all work?”

“Well,” Jill frowns, “I just kind of. Imagine what I want in my dreams and try to bring it to me. It takes more effort with anything larger than a chair, but it’s worked for me so far.”

“It’s all very-” Eustace waves a hand in the air, “-vague. Magicky. You know.”

“It’s a  _ dream _ , of course it’s vague! It’s not like I got step by step instructions on this.”

This time Jill dreams up her grandparent’s house out in the country, and old thing surrounded by green fields and wildflowers. Eustace is looking around, poking the wooden fence that is falling apart and inspecting the flowers beneath it as though he expects his hand to phase through them. But Jill’s dreams are always surprisingly real; the world around her is solid and both she and Eustace are able to interact with it as though they’re awake.

“Alright,” Jill says, taking a deep breath, “Wish me luck.”

“No,” Eustace says almost immediately, shooting her a grin.

She sticks her tongue out at him, then concentrates on the space in front of her. She thinks back to Tirian, tied in the chair, helping them through the cave, returning to Narnia and turning back to them moments before Aslan returned them to Earth. She focuses, imagines him standing in front of her, and  _ pulls. _

For a moment, nothing happens. The disappointment sinks like an anchor in her stomach, then the air in front of her warps, shimmers, shifts.

Tirian slowly comes into focus, eyes closed and sleeping. He sways for a moment, suspended in the air, before he pitches forwards. Eustace rushes forwards and catches him just as Jill throws herself on the ground to cushion their fall. 

It’s only because this is a dream that she’s not feeling pain, but the impact knocks the breath out of her regardless. 

Carefully, Eustace sits up and pulls Tirian with him, allowing Jill to move and push herself off the ground. Tirian sleeps through this, too. 

As Eustace tries to shake him awake, Jill claps her hands in front of his face a few times, then frowns.

“Maybe it’s because he’s in Narnia that he’s asleep?”

“I mean… It’s a good a guess as any,” Eustace says, pinching Tirian’s cheeks. “Can’t you dream him awake?”

An idea forms in her head that makes her grin. “Oh, I can do you one better,” she grins, then imagines a bucketful of cold water being dumped on their heads.

Immediately, Eustace is jumping up, shocked and offended. Tirian sputters, rolling away and then sitting up to shake his head. 

“What?” he says, looking around panicked, “Hello? What? Where am I?”

Jill quickly dreams the water off them both, then reaches down to grab Tirian’s hands and pull him up onto his feet. 

“Welcome to my dream, Tirian!”

He stares at her for a long moment, eyes wide, shocked. He glances behind her at Eustace, then softens. 

“My friends!” he says, throwing his arms out, “I never thought I’d see you again!”

Laughing, Eustace barrels into both of them, trapping them in a hug. 

They stay there together for a long time, just reveling in the feeling of being together again, without having to worry about being whisked away and forgotten. It feels so real, and for a moment, Jill is horribly heartbroken to know that when she wakes up, she will be alone. Eustace will be across the city and Tirian will be a world away. 

As though he knows what she’s thinking, Eustace tightens his grip on her, then pulls away. His eyes are bright with unshed tears, and Jill swears that, for a moment, they look golden.

“How am I here?” Tirian asks, looking at them with wonder in his eyes.

“It’s all her,” Eustace says, patting Jill’s shoulder. She flushes and shakes her head.

“I don’t really know how it works, but I can control my dreams. Make bits of them reality. So I dreamed you here.”

“Incredible!” Tirian beams. “I am glad to know you have not forgotten me.”

She shrugs. “Yeah well, I thought it was a shame that we didn’t get to spend much time together. Eustace too, though he’s spent more time in Narnia that I.”

“Yes, my father used to tell me stories about his voyage! I’m still having trouble remembering them, the memories come without warning, but you were a dragon, weren’t you?”

“I was,” Eustace answers, “It didn’t last, obviously, and while it scared me at first, I have to admit that being a dragon was rather fun.”

“How unfair,” Jill mopes, “You get to be a dragon and travel to different places, and I almost get eaten by giants!”

“I also almost got eaten by giants. I was there too.”

“Well, this isn’t about you.”

Tirian laughs at their banter. “You must be very close. I can only hope I have a friendship as good as yours someday.”

“You’re friends with us, aren’t you?” Jill asks, “We didn’t get much time together, but I think of you as my friend.”

“Same here,” Eustace says, reaching out to sling an arm around Tirian’s shoulder. “Say, would you like some cake? I’ve taken to baking recently.”

Jill imagines the apple cake she had the other day and carefully imagines it sliced, then imagines a table and a few chairs so they don’t have to eat on the ground. Tirian startles when they suddenly appear, then follows Eustace’s lead and takes a seat. 

“I hate to ask this,” Tirian starts, “But how long do we have? We have to wake up eventually, right?”

“We do, but we can always meet again the next night.”

“Say,” Eustace cuts in, “How long do we have left in here?”

“I’ve decided: time isn’t real, so we’ll wake up when we want to.”

Eustace throws a cake crumb at her. “That’s not how it works!”

“Excuse me, but is this  _ your _ dream? Thought not. Don’t tell me what to do.”

Tirian watches them bicker as he eats his cake, and Jill is glad to see that he seems happier, lighter, compared to when they had rescued him. He was doing well in Narnia, and she decided that even if she can never see him in person, knowing he’s alright is more than enough for her.

“Tirian, give me something,” she says suddenly, holding out a hand. “I want to make sure I can call you back.”

Without question or hesitation, he slips a necklace off and drops it into her hand. It’s a simple coin engraved with a lion, and Eustace focuses on it intently, before nodding to himself and relaxing back into his seat.

“You better not lose that, Jill. It’s high quality gold.”

“Dragons should mind their own business,” she replies, then throws a crumb at him. “Enough of that now, tell me what you’ve been up to! Have you been well? What’s Narnia like now?”

* * *

Jill wakes up, feeling lighter and happier than she has in years. All that dreaming and imagining did make that bone deep exhaustion settle in her, but after seeing Tirian again, it’s more than worth it. She sits up, prepared to look through maps and wander around London to dream it more accurately, when something falls off her chest into her lap.

The gold coin of the necklace seems even brighter in the waking world, and for a moment, Jill can swear she sees the lion smile.

**Author's Note:**

> i wanted to add in a bit w jill and eustace showing tirian around london but idk anything about london so guess thats not happening lol


End file.
